Chapter 52: Step 3 and something extra
Here comes the next chapter. Step three won't take too long but you will find out soon enough what I mean about something extra. I assure you though; something very important happens in this chapter. Also there is a small mistake I made in chapter 39 that I wanted to talk about. I wrote that the Cyclopes were 4 feet tall but I meant by that 4 meters. I just got confused. Anyway, until I correct it let's leave it with 10 feet tall. By the way, Happy New Year!
I don't own any of this except for the plotline.
Read, enjoy and review!
Percy's POV
I called the Cyclopes and after a few minutes they reached our location. They kings were eying them nervously but I assured them that they won't attack us. When I had their attention, I started talking to my half-brothers.
"Rachel and I will make a spell that will disguise you as Trojan farmers," I told them. "Soon after dawn, you will go to the city and tell the first soldier you encounter that the Greeks had left the camp and the ships are nowhere in sight. That will lure them here and when they see the horse they will take it to Troy," I explained them.
The Cyclopes just nodded and wait for the spell with anticipation. I looked at Rachel and she nodded. We were about to make the third spell together in the night.
Our minds merged as one again and we focused on the spell at hand. I specified how I wanted the Cyclopes to look like in my head and the magic did the job for us. At first, nothing happen. A few moments later though, they began to shrank about 4 feet before our eyes. Their one eye was replaced with two normal sized eyes in each face. Finally, we materialize traditional Trojan cloths for all of them.
When we were done, they looked so human that no one will think of them as Cyclopes.
I may have surprised the Greek kings many times in the past but this one took the crown. They were looking at my half-brothers in awe. It was hard for them to process that I could disguise them as Trojans so well. Then they look at us with more admiration than ever.
I sighed. That just made harder the thing I am about to do.
"Are you sure you want to do this Percy?" Rachel asked me in my head.
"To be honest, not really but I have to do it before it's too late," I answered through our mind link.
"Kings of Greece, I have something to say," I informed.
That got their attention.
"What is it?" Ajax asked me.
I took a deep breath before answering.
"I can't go in the wooden horse to Troy with you," I declared.
They looked at me confused.
"Why?" Diomedes asked me.
"Because by the time you can get out of the horse it will be the next coming night and according to the span of time the gods gave me to help you I will have to be long gone since then," I lied sadly. "The three days I had to help you are over a few hours after dawn," I explained. "That means that I will have to go to Olympus and stand down. I am sorry but after you get inside the horse you will have to go on without me," I said.
The kings looked sad. I was betting that they were thinking that, after all the help I gave them to end the war, they will have to win it without me. And they didn't like the idea. Their faces showed it. We had grown closer this past week. I suppressed a laugh. Indeed, it has been almost a week but with all the things that had happen during that particular week it felt like months.
"You really have to go?" Nestor asked bewildered.
I nodded.
"Will we ever see you again?" Menelaus asked me.
"To be honest, I seriously doubt it because soon I am going to live in my father's kingdom and Zeus knows when I will return to dry land," I lied.
No one said a word for a whole minute. They were all thinking of everything that had happen since I crossed paths with them or so I thought at the very least. Eventually, they all looked at me in the eyes. That was when every king, Achilles and Antiloco decided to take turns to tell me something
"Fighting beside you was one of the greatest honors of my life," Odysseus said surprising me.
"If it wasn't for you, this war would have lasted and how many more people would have died," Menelaus said. "We owe you a lot."
"We didn't really talk too much but I know that your help was invaluable so thank you," Antiloco said.
"You are a great swordsman and an even better man," Ajax said. "Don't let anyone tell you any different."
"You manage to infiltrate Troy; something that we thought as impossible," Nestor said. "That must had taken wisdom and I know you have loads of it."
"I may have started this war out of rage but you had made possible that more of our soldiers live and see their families again," Menelaus said. "I drag them here and because of you they will return home. For that I am grateful."
"You really are someone that I admire despite you young age," Diomedes told me.
"At first I thought that you wanted to take my power away but you had proved me wrong many times so far," Agamemnon said. "In behalf of all Greece, I thank you.
"Where do I begin for the things I should thank you for?" Achilles asked himself out loud. "You have been the most worthy opponent I had ever had. You saved my life. You help me saved my best friend's life. If it wasn't for you I wouldn't have met Oenone and I wouldn't had fallen in love with her. But what I really must thank you for, is that I can return to my home in Fitia with my mother. She thought I will die when I decided to join this war and for years I thought she was right. But now I can return so thank you so much," Achilles said.
For once since I was in their presence, it was my turn to be shocked. I had no idea that they respected me that much and the things they said to me were more that I would have asked for. These kings are my friends. And, when I return to the future, I will never see them again. I fight the urge to cry but one single tear fall from my right eye.
Before I noticed, the sun rose. I sighed. The time has come. I told the Cyclopes to go to Troy and that once they are able to they can return to my father's realm. Then I told the kings and the elite soldiers to get in the horse. I made a spell that won't make their armor make any noise.
They gave me one last look and disappear inside the horse. I sighed again and look for Zoƫ. When I found here I told her that we had to go. Before I left though, I have one last look to the quarters of Achilles. That place had been my home for a few days.
Then we left the camp, and head to the woods.
There you have it. This was a chapter particularly hard to write for me and, in my opinion, the most emotional of the major plotline. I will try to update as soon as possible. However, I might not be able to do it in a few days.
Review!
